Visions, androids, and Hulks, oh my!  The crew assembles to discuss Avengers: Age of Ultron, Marvel’s newest (and expected) box office success.  We discuss the film’s pace, Black Widow, the film universe, our film grades, and much more!

We hope you enjoy the episode!

Note:  If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show!

Spoiler Alert:  the following podcast contains spoilers for the film being reviewed; if you wish to see the film without having it ruined for you, download this podcast and save it for later.

Download the Episode here.

Show Notes:

Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)(IMDB)

Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0).

That’s all, folks!  Thanks for listening.  See you next week.

(I’ve temporarily disabled comments on this post because of an excess number of irritating spam.  I’ll enable comments again in the future.  If you’d like to get in touch about the episode, send us an email.)

Carousels, Popsicle people, and protein from the sea, oh my!  In this very special “Childhood Destruction” edition of Torture Cinema, the entire crew (minus Mike) join forces to talk about David’s childhood movie crush, Logan’s Run.

We hope you enjoy the episode!

Note:  If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show!

Here’s the episode (show notes are below):

Episode 270 — Download (MP3)

Show Notes:

 

Logan’s Run (1976)(IMDB)

Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0).

That’s all, folks!  Thanks for listening.  See you next week.

Romantic Fantasies, Cults of Personality, and the Chaos of Capital!

In our fourth episode, we drop back a decade to discuss Ernst Lubitsch’s The Shop Around the Corner starring James Stewart and Margaret Sullivan, from the character’s fantasies about romantic relationships to the posturing of its characters to the underlying metaphors and references embodied in the shop.  Needless to say, we had a pretty intense discussion.

This episode also marks the beginning of our Subscriber Drive.  We want to add a second episode to the show, but we want to reach 200 subscribers before we do.  The second episode would take the shape of a “Gap Filler” episode, wherein David and Shaun pick a movie they think is “good” that the other hasn’t seen but should.  This will result in some very interesting choices.  If you like what we do, help us spread the word about the show!

Enjoy!

Download Episode 004 (The Shop Around the Corner)(MP3)

Show Notes:

* The Shop Around the Corner (1940)

*  Resources:

* “Acting Ordinary in The Shop Around the Corner“ by George Toles

* “The Shop Around the Corner” (review by David Sanjek at Senses of Cinema)

* “The Shop Around the Corner” (review by Frank S. Nugent in the New York Times)

* Our next film:  The Swimmer (1968)

 

Hard SF, airplanes, and anthology masters, oh my!  Eric Choi joined us at LonCon3 last year to discuss writing, his editing work (with Ben Bova, of all people), and much more!  Plus, we learned a little bit about airplanes as they flew over us.

We hope you enjoy the episode!

Note:  If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show!

Here’s the episode (show notes are below):

Episode 269 — Download (MP3)

Show Notes:

Eric Choi’s Website

Eric’s Twitter

Carbide Tipped Pens edited by Ben Bova and Eric Choi

The Dragon and the Stars edited by Derwin Mak and Eric Choi

“Non-US Fandom Survey:  Perspectives on the Hugo Awards“

Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0).

That’s all, folks!  Thanks for listening.  See you next week.

Live from LonCon3 (and very late on our podcast feed):  a panel on Eastern European and Baltic sf/f featuring the lovely voices of Michael Burianyk, Stanislaw Krawczyk, Irena Raseta, Ivaylo Shmilev, and Imants Belogrîvs!

The panel description was as follows:

In the Anglophone World, probably the best-known Eastern European science fiction and fantasy writers are Stanislas Lem and Karel Capek, and in recent years Zoran Zivkovic and Andrzej Sapkowski. But this region has produced many fine writers of fantastika. Which other writers should Anglophone readers be aware of? Our panel of writers and readers from Croatia, Poland, Bulgaria and Latvia will discuss current trends, perennial themes, and future hopes.

We hope you enjoy the episode!

Note:  If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show!

Here’s the episode (show notes are below):

Episode 268 — Download (MP3)

Show Notes:

Panelists:

Michael Burianyk (M)

Stanislaw Krawczyk

* Stanislaw’s Blog

* “Polish Fantastic Prose in English:  An Overview (of sorts)“

Irena Raseta

Irena’s Twitter

Irena’s Tumblr

Ivaylo Shmilev

Ivo’s Website

Goethe University of Frankfurt Profile

Imants Belogrîvs

Notes:

Jacek Dukaj

The Old Axolotl

Wit Szostak

Szczepan Twardoch

Łukasz Orbitowski

Marek S. Huberath

Nike Award

Wiki Page

Karel Čapek

Franz Kafka

Stanislaw Lem

Andrzej Sapkowski

Lyuben Dilov

Pavel Vezhinov

Lyubomir Nikolov

Bozhidar Grozdanov

Adrian Lazarovski

Bulgarian Science Fiction Encyclopedia

Milena Benini

Zoran Zivkovic

Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

Thanks to the panelists for helping me with spelling, etc.

Facehuggers, flamethrowers, and angry momma aliens, oh my!  Damien Angelica Walters brings her squee to this special Alien-centric episode!  We discuss the legacy of Alien and Aliens, the evocative design of the films, their underlying metaphors, and so much more!

We hope you enjoy the episode!

Note:  If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show!

Spoiler Alert:  the following podcast contains spoilers for the film being reviewed; if you wish to see the film without having it ruined for you, download this podcast and save it for later.

Download the Episode here.

Show Notes:

Alien (1979)(IMDB)

Aliens (1986)(IMDB)

Damien Angelica Walters’ Website

Damien’s Twitter

Sing Me Your Scars (buy Damien’s books!)

Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0).

That’s all, folks!  Thanks for listening.  See you next week.

Diplomacy, war, and glowing swords, oh my! Betsy Dornbusch joins Shaun and Paul to discuss her newest novel, Emissary.  We explore the novel’s treatment of diplomacy, its worldbuilding, war tactics, and much more.

We hope you enjoy the episode!

Note:  If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show!

Here’s the episode (show notes are below):

Episode 267 — Download (MP3)

Show Notes:

Betsy Dornbusch’s Website

Betsy’s Books

Betsy’s Twitter

Emissary (BUY IT)

Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0).

That’s all, folks!  Thanks for listening.  See you next week.

London, airplanes, and history degrees, oh my!  Author Juliet E. McKenna joined Shaun, Julia, and Paul at LonCon3 last year to discuss her work, politics and their influence, her experience with historical research, and feminism!

We hope you enjoy the episode!

Note:  If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show!

Here’s the episode (show notes are below):

Episode 266 — Download (MP3)

Show Notes:

Juliet McKenna’s Website

Juliet’s Books

Juliet’s Twitter

Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0).

That’s all, folks!  Thanks for listening.  See you next week.

Teenage Body Horror, Modern Decay, and It!

Our third episode is a special one!  We jump outside of our normal programming schedule to host an impromptu discussion of David Robert Mitchell’s acclaimed new horror film, It Follows.  Special guest Rachael Acks joins us as we explore the film’s underlying sexual mythologies, its treatment of capital, and its remarkable ability to produce dread.

Enjoy!

Download Episode 003 (It Follows)(MP3)

Show Notes:

* It Follows (2014/5; dir. David Robert Mitchell)

* Rachael Acks:  Website / Twitter

* Our intro/outro music comes from “Sundancer” by Wild Shores. Licensed under Creative Commons: Attribution 4.0

Clever gadgets, super spies, and awesome 1940s women, oh my!  Our “Women and Non-Binary in SFF” theme continues with this special discussion of the first half of the Agent Carter miniseries.  Raven Oak joins us to talk about the show, its influence, its themes, and all the reasons why it is just plain awesome.

We hope you enjoy the episode!

Note:  If you have iTunes and like this show, please give us a review on our iTunes page, or feel free to email us with your thoughts about the show!

Spoiler Alert:  the following podcast contains spoilers for the film being reviewed; if you wish to see the film without having it ruined for you, download this podcast and save it for later.

Download the Episode here.

Show Notes:

Agent Carter (IMDB)

Raven Oak’s Website

Raven’s Twitter

Amaskan’s Blood by Raven Oak

The Listener Survey

Our new intro music is “Time Flux” by Revolution Void (CC BY 3.0).

That’s all, folks!  Thanks for listening.  See you next week.